Office News - Dec 09/Jan 10
02/03/2010
Suzie's News
Following the fun of Christmas and New Year we had all planned a dynamic start to the year but we had a lot of snow in Birmingham. It did cause problems for the office team but between us we managed to keep the support-line open and the work continued.
Hopefully everyone is back to normal now, children back at school, pipes un-frozen, and thermals back in the cupboard.
We have a great many things planned for 2010. Hopefully we will be able to expand on all of our areas of work especially some new information resources and some more local support. We have some fantastic new volunteers who I hope that you will be hearing from soon. Jon is working hard on some great ideas for the young members, go and have a look at the public pages of the zipper club website, you can link from www.lhm.org.uk.
Our new Antenatal Information pack is on line and the videos will be live on line soon.
We need to rely on you to help us achieve our goals for this year. Fewer and fewer companies will be supporting charities this year so we need all of your friends and family to help us find great fundraising ideas. Kevin will be there to support anyone who has a great idea. If you don’t know how to start or find it difficult to ask your friend for help he has lots of ideas.
My aims for this year are, as usual to lose weight, but also to work to ensure that LHM is a voice that is heard and that the needs of all of our members become a high priority as Government look for change.
May I wish you all a brilliant 2010
Suzie Hutchinson
Chief Executive
Kev's News
December as always just flew past for me with loads to do before Christmas, lights to be sold and hung, Christmas cards flying off the shelves quicker than we could print them and loads of local networking events to fit in.
And of course Christmas Shopping.
Well into January and plans are coming together now for the SE Walk & Run event planned for 28th March in Mote Park Maidstone so that’s good and all of you in the SE have been sent details. That said everyone wherever you may be is very welcome to come along, the more the merrier! Last years event was a fantastic success and raised a huge amount of money for a first time SE activity.
Deb & I continue working on fundraising leaflets fliers etc for 2010 and you will see those dropping through your letter box over the coming months.
One such event is our first National “Forget Me Not” Walk to be held on Sunday the 9th of May in Bristol, details on the website and in the newsletter.
Gwen continues to feed the website with stories of your adventures with fundraising antics all of which are an inspiration to everyone, thank you and keep them coming.
If you are doing something that you would like to feature on your website, please call Gwen or email her at Gwen@lhm.org.uk
Best wishes have a fabulous 2010 and huge thanks as always.
Kev
Fundraising Manager
Deb's News
Firstly I’d like to wish everyone a peaceful New Year.
It’s difficult trying to recall what I did way back in December, it seems so long ago! I did have some annual leave during the latter part of the month. The beginning was spent tying up lose ends, finishing projects and filing ready for the year end. Some time was also spent planning for 2010 – what projects we will be working on and when they will be completed by, providing we have funding available.
I helped Suzie with some funding applications by formatting them. I started work on a new fundraising event leaflet – the ‘Forget Me Not Walk’. More details of which are on the website and in the Winter 2010 newsletter. I still have to meet with Kev about this and make some amends but it should be sent out at the beginning of March along with the newssheet. I continued work on the DLA pack, formatting the Sample DLA form. We hope to have this updated pack available in April.
December was also spent planning for the next newsletter as I knew this had to be completed by the end of January. And yes these first few weeks in January have indeed been spent pretty much wholly with completing the newseltter, which I am pleased to say has just gone to the printer. We will be distributing it in the first week of February.
I am continuing work on the Filofax, this has now been proof read, thank you Isabel, and once the amends have been completed this too should go to the printer in about a one weeks time.
We held an Information Service User Group meeting on Tuesday 19th January, this is a group made up of parents of children who have a single ventricle heart condition, and members of staff. We discuss the progress of information projects and plan future projects, we also discuss the website, Open Day, newsletter and any other ideas people may want to talk about. We are always looking for new members, if you would be interested in joining this group do get in touch to talk to us about it.
I am always planning future newsletters, so please if you have read a book which you would like to share with others, or if you would like to tell your story or send us a photo please do get in touch with us. We are looking to do an article on practical ideas and tips for preparation for hospital and a hospital stay, if you would like to send us your tips to include in this article we would really love to hear from you – you can send them to deb@lhm.org.uk If you would like to call us about anything please ring 0121 455 8982.
We have also started to produce a newsletter for our families who have sadly lost their children, if you would like to share your story, photos or a poem in this publication then please send them to Deb also.
I hope you hear from you.
Take care
Deb x
Information Administrator
Jon's News
I hope that you are enjoying 2010 so far, and that it is lining up to be an exciting year for you and your family. I’ve been away to Spain for a week doing some Shakespeare. The weather, you’ll be pleased to hear, was awful.
This year we will be collecting data for the Youth Research project. I would like to say a huge thank you for those of you who have already attended one of our drop-in sessions to complete the questionnaire. The more people we have, the more weight this project will hold. This will be a very important tool in ensuring that young people with a Single Ventricle Heart Disorder have an easier time in school and hospital. Please help us to help others.
I have already had the pleasure of meeting many of our young members this year, and it fills me with joy to see them achieving so much and enjoying life. We want to make sure that every one of our young members is having a happy time, and we hope that over the next few months we will be producing some information and putting on some events that will help with this. Our key words for this year are confidence and independence. I think that each of these terms leads to the other, and I have seen some wonderful cases over the last few months of teenagers taking control of their heart condition, shedding any embarrassment or anxiety, and becoming empowered because of it. These young people now have much more control over their lives, and are much more content as young adults, ready to face the grown up world.
We hope that we can help all of our young members achieve this same state of happiness, and will be holding lots of interesting sessions for 10-18 year olds at our open day next month. We hope to see you there.
If you would like to discuss any of the projects or intiatives mentioned in this article, contact jon on 0121 455 8982 or 07590 531153 or jon@lhm.org.uk
Tina's News
Tina's been really busy planning for the next Open Day as well as keeping the office running smoothly as normal. Unfortunately she's also been poorly so will be updating you when she's feeling better. Get well soon Tina!
Gwen's News
December was a varied month, with several of the planned website changes going live, an updated antenatal section being added to the site and doing a huge mail merge to the south east to advertise our Maidstone run/walk event.
Deb co designed the new homepage with Ice Blue, based on feedback that we had received from members. The images are now clickable links so that you can find information more easily.
At the beginning of December we held the Lights of Love tree turn on event in Stafford. It was a very cold but very moving evening. The singing carols to the brass band was delightful as was the hot minced pies and mulled wine afterwards.
January has been busy with lots of meetings and training. I’m gradually going to be taking on a new part to my role helping our PR expert Emma. We have already met for a days training and the first press release we circulated this year has appeared in several newspapers in the Northants area. But we really need your help.
If you are holding a cookie bake or taking part in an event (even the On Your Marks events) because of a connection to the charity and would like to help raise awareness then please let us know. Even if you are just curious – drop me an email with details of your event and why you are doing it and I’ll let you know about what we could do to help you get publicity.
As well as the new, the past two months have also been taken up with the usual day to day tasks of registering new members, sorting out the network lists for network leaders and general website maintenance. The information meeting also took place this month where a solution was decided to make the message boards more easily accessible. These changes should be actioned in February.
As always, if you have any questions about the website or would like to highlight an event you are organising then please get in touch with me – gwen@lhm.org.uk.
All the best,
Gwen
Website and Database Administrator
If you would like to contact any of the team you can send an email to
info@lhm.org.uk or call us on
0121 455 8982.